Bill Walker is one of the SHARE Biomed Techs who helped with the proposal to UMass Memorial to save money and keep the Biomed service in-house. He works on the University Campus. Here's what Bill has to say about the idea of contracting out Biomed:

"We all know that costs have to be reduced as healthcare changes, and we do not argue that point. We do, however, argue that in many cases, after a few years of a hospital not having control over the quality of service, and actually finding that the savings are not really there, that the service is once again brought back in house, with great expense to re-hire, re-train, and re-tool.

Some of the current techs MAY be asked to join the new company. The problem there is that the new company will sign the paychecks, and you can't work for two masters. The "buy in" you get from people who care about our patients and the quality of the service we provide will no longer be the priority. Profit for the new company will.

Here in the Biomed shop at University, we have over 250 combined years of experience in our field. The Memorial and Hahnemann shops are equally well-experienced. I love coming to work every day -- I work with the best team of professionals that I have worked with in the 35 years I have been repairing medical equipment. I always try to make our patients' stay here as wonderful as possible, in any way I can.

I love this place, and I bring my family here for care. My name is among the many donors to the Emergency Fund on the plaque in the Atrium because of the care my family has received, particularly my autistic son Josh, who is a frequent flyer in our ED.

My teammates and I want to remain hospital employees, as we strive to make our services even better."